Spain’s most internationally famous film director, screenwriter and producer, Pedro Almodóvar, is to receive a Donostia Career Achievement Award at the prestigious 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival on 26 September, prior to the screening of his latest film, ‘La habitación de al lado’ (‘The Room Next Door’).
‘The Room Next Door’ is Almodóvar’s first feature film in English, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, and which will compete for the Golden Lion at the upcoming Venice Festival. Presentation of the honorary award in San Sebastian, which recognises the extraordinary contribution to the world of cinema by the person receiving the tribute, will be done by Tilda Swinton.
Almodóvar’s career, which includes more than a dozen short films, and nigh on 30 feature films, boasts almost 170 awards and more than 200 nominations.
Among his accolades are two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, seven European Film Academy Awards, five BAFTAs, four Césars and five Goyas. He has harvested laurels at the Cannes, Berlin, Venice and San Sebastian festivals, as well as being the subject of a homage at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
He has also received recognitions including the Jean Renoir Award, has been chosen for the David Lean Lecture and named doctor honoris causa at Harvard and Oxford, as well as having been honoured with the National Medal of Arts in the USA, the Spanish Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts, the Prince of Asturias Medal of the Arts and the French Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honour.
Added to his artistic talent and his instantly recognisable visual style (his personality shines through from the art direction to the soundtrack), Almodóvar’s cinema is remarkable for the writing of its female characters, the directing of its actors, its courage in addressing subjects such as the LGBTIQ+ universe, religion, sex, addiction and historical memory, and his political commitment, which has driven him to take a public stance against war and extreme right-wing discourse.
Almodóvar has previously presented Donostia Awards at the San Sebastian Festival to Al Pacino (1996), Woody Allen (2004) and Antonio Banderas (2008).
‘My career began in San Sebastian in the year 1980 and since then I have returned to the festival often, with or without a film. And I have always immensely enjoyed myself,’ Almodóvar said, on hearing that he will receive the award in September.
‘I am delighted and grateful – I mean it, it’s an honour,’ he said. ‘San Sebastian is one of the cities where the cinema is celebrated with enormous enthusiasm. More than ever, at these times, we need the complicity of the spectators, and their presence in the film theatres.’
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